Las Vegas Convention Center Boosts Mobile Network Ahead of CES

Showgoers at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas can expect to have access to a solid, speedy mobile connection.

The Las Vegas Convention Center has rolled out a large “neutral-host” Distributed Antenna  System in partnership with Cox Business/Hospitality and InSite Wireless Group that, they say, will be the equivalent to packing 14 cell towers inside the facility.

The new DAS, an $18 million project that took three years to plan and 10 months to build, spans the LVCC’s 3.2 million square feet of space, equal to about 26 football fields, they said, noting that it will complement the facility’s existing high-density WiFi network, which is currently comprised of 2,100 802.11ac WiFi access points.

Supported by “four major U.S. wireless carriers,” the new DAS will be capable of serving more than 100,000 people simultaneously, and expect it to deliver faster download speeds on smartphones than people would expect to get on most corporate networks

Corning was tapped as the new DAS’s core equipment provider.

Among other stats, the DAS supports 44 zones (38 indoor) and backed by five indoor, monitored DC power plants, and 41 equipment racks in the DAS headend. It’s also equipped for future 5G technology, the partners said.

In 2013, Cox Business announced it had won a seven-year deal to provide voice, data and video for the Las Vegas Convention Center and Cashman Center.